Customer-oriented advice ensures better data flows and more leads

Case Study: Complex challenges for Heise Medien

[Translate to English:] Logo von Heise Medien, bestehend aus einem stilisierten, schwarzen 'h' in einem Kreis und dem Schriftzug 'Heise Medien' daneben.

For the Heise media company, individual, personalized communication with readers is extremely important – and therefore, email marketing must also perform optimally. Heise Medien therefore wanted an easy-to-use email marketing solution that would enable editors to create professional mailings quickly and efficiently. In addition, this solution should be integrated into the existing IT landscape in such a way that data can flow automatically between the systems. This way, a 360-degree customer view is created, which leads to an increasingly tailored approach to prospective and existing customers –

we are talking about data-driven personalization for stronger customer loyalty. This should improve key figures and increase sales. But that's not all: Heise Medien also wanted efficient measures to generate new leads. The company already had ideas, but lacked the technical expertise. This project therefore required a strong partner that could provide Heise Medien with technical and professional support at all times: Heise Medien approached this project together with Inxmail in order to meet the highest customer demands.

[Translate to English:] Drei Personen stehen vor einer Wand mit mehreren Dokumenten und Haftnotizen. Eine Frau zeigt mit einem Stift auf eines der Dokumente, während sie einen Laptop hält. Die anderen beiden Personen schauen aufmerksam zu
[Translate to English:] Symbol eines stehenden Menschen, der auf eine Sprechblase mit einer Glühbirne zeigt, das die Darstellung von Ideen und Wünschen symbolisiert.

Challenge

  • Sophisticated IT audience
  • Visually appealing mailings
  • Fast creation and sending
  • Integration into the system landscape
  • Good advertising pressure
[Translate to English:] Symbol eines Arbeitshefts mit einem Stift, das die Darstellung von Planungs- und Gestaltungsleistungen symbolisiert.

Solution

  • Technical advice
  • Automated processes
  • Technical advice and training
  • Template design
  • Lead generation in the form of an Advent calendar
[Translate to English:] Symbol eines Balkendiagramms mit einem ansteigenden Pfeil, das die Darstellung von Wachstum und Nutzen symbolisiert.

Benefit

  • More efficient email campaigns
  • More leads
  • Complete data use in mailings
  • Improved customer lifecycle
  • Saves resources
[Translate to English:] Screenshot einer Heise-Adventskalender-Seite mit dem Titel 'Heise Adventskalender mit EXKLUSIVEN GEWINNEN'. Rechts sind mehrere Magazine und ein Webinar-Angebot zu sehen. Unten auf der Seite befinden sich Login-Felder und ein Button zum Öffnen des Kalenders.
[Translate to English:] Screenshot eines digitalen Adventskalenders auf der Heise-Website. Der Kalender zeigt nummerierte Türchen mit verschiedenen Daten, die in einer blauen, festlichen Gestaltung angezeigt werden.
Highly effective: Heise Medien used the advent calendar to generate many new leads in a short period of time.
Challenge

The best for subscribers

Heise Medien addresses an upmarket IT audience with magazines such as c't and iX. Customer communication via newsletter must therefore also be professional – both in terms of content and technology. Mailings must be displayed optimally on every device and also delivered securely to readers' inboxes. In addition, the emails should be visually appealing and at the same time take little time to create. Heise Medien therefore wanted an email marketing solution that was easy and intuitive to use. This not only includes quick familiarization for editors, but also the ability for several people to work on different mailings at the same time. This speeds up processes and allows creative ideas to be implemented as a team.

Heise Medien also faced the challenge of a comprehensive view of its own customers. This is because readers can receive newsletters from different brands. A sure instinct is needed here for good advertising pressure. Specifically, the questions were “What are customers interested in? What can you send them and when is the right time?” For this reason, the media company needed to network email marketing with all the systems it uses.

In addition to an optimized workflow for creating mailings, Heise Medien also wanted to improve the customer lifecycle. The aim was to use efficient campaigns to further develop processes from lead generation to customer retention. Heise Medien had many good ideas for this, but they required complex technical expertise. Heise Medien therefore turned to Inxmail to provide support and advice throughout the entire project.

[Translate to English:] Grafik mit einem zentralen gelben Kreis, der das Inxmail-Logo zeigt, umgeben von sieben Symbolen, die verschiedene Dienstleistungen darstellen: Fachliche Beratung, Analyse, Technische Beratung, Trainings, Integration, Vorlagen, Zustellbarkeit und Leadgenerierung.
Solution

Using customer data efficiently

The first step was a technical consultation. Heise Medien uses DYMATRIX Marketing Automation as a campaign management tool and Microsoft Dynamics as a central CRM system. This meant that Heise Medien faced the challenge of connecting the data from the different systems in order to use it efficiently for email marketing while also maintaining a 360-degree customer view. Inxmail analyzed the data flows within Heise Medien's entire IT landscape. Inxmail then presented the company with a number of solutions to meet their challenges. Heise Medien opted for continuous adaptation of the email marketing tool to their own system landscape. As a result, the Inxmail software was gradually integrated into all systems to ensure optimal data flows. Thanks to the versatile integrations, Heise Medien benefits from automated processes that make duplicate data maintenance obsolete.

In the second step, Heise Medien used the expert advice and training. Here, the latest email editor from Inxmail was used: After a short familiarization period with the Inxmail email marketing platform, editors can now create highly personalized mailings in just a few steps using the modern web interface. To improve customer retention, Heise Medien had Inxmail analyze its previous mailings. Important key figures, such as click rate or bounce rate, were scrutinized, as was the layout in general. Subsequently, templates were designed for all mailing formats to achieve the best possible performance. The Inxmail software ensured that the corporate design was reproduced with pixel-perfect accuracy. Inxmail supports Heise Medien with its dynamic email marketing work by providing an annually agreed consultancy package. This package further develops many of the company's processes and continuously promotes the expansion of email marketing from both a technical and business perspective.

The third step involved specific measures to generate leads. After intensive conceptual consulting, Inxmail successfully implemented an Advent calendar for Heise Medien. The resulting daily contact with readers provided many new addresses in the long term. What's more, the click rate within the newsletter increased. With the complete consulting package, Heise Medien is ideally equipped for the email marketing of the future.

“We use Inxmail both in the context of support and in the consulting environment, with the numerous experiences of other customers, as a driver for our email marketing strategy.”  
Claas Blume
Head of Data Competence Center, Heise Medien GmbH & Co.
[Translate to English:] Logo von Heise Medien, bestehend aus einem stilisierten 'h' in einem Kreis und dem Schriftzug 'Heise Medien' daneben.

About Heise Medien

With c't and iX, Heise Medien publishes two successful computer magazines, the forward-looking technology magazine Technology Review and the multiple award-winning online magazine Telepolis. The heise online website is the leading medium for German-language high-tech news. With conferences, seminars and workshops, heise Events addresses an upscale IT specialist audience.

www.heise-gruppe.de